Jeremy Joerger, right, with his wife Kelly and their son Max spend some time together at the bar in the brew room at JDub's Brewing Company in Sarasota. (Staff photo by Rachel S. O'Hara)

So the idea that a proposed state law could cripple the fledgling Sarasota business evokes an unusually strong reaction from Joerger, a cheerful 34-year-old who listens to reggae music in his taproom and has “no jerks allowed” scribbled on the chalkboard.

“It’s just so disgusting on so many levels,” he said of the legislation.

Instead of negotiating with bars and restaurants to sell Jdub’s signature Up Top! IPA, Joerger was calling state senators recently and urging them to oppose a bill that would put major new restrictions on craft breweries.

The legislation appears unlikely to pass this year, but its existence was a “tough dose of reality” for Joerger. Starting a small business had been hard enough without having to fight meddling lawmakers, he said.

The brewery battle is one of the more potent symbols of the pressure special interests exert on lawmakers. It pits upstart beer makers against established distributors who are blocking a bill that legalizes 64 ounce growler jugs popular with craft beer aficionados.

Opponents of the growler bill have proposed alternative legislation placing limits on brewery taproom sales that bypass the typical distribution network. Both the House and Senate versions of the bill have been watered down with amendments but still contain provisions opposed by craft brewers. The Senate Community Affairs Committee is scheduled to take up the measure, SB 1714, Tuesday.

But the growing popularity of craft beer in Florida has distributors fighting public opinion, and many lawmakers are sympathetic to the small brewers.

Sarasota Republican Rep. Greg Steube helped remove from the House bill some of the proposals most loathed by craft brewers. While the distributor-backed measure appears stalled in the House, it is still moving in the Senate, and Steube said that unless brewers and distributors reach a compromise — which is unlikely — “nothing will pass this year.”

“It’s a very political issue,” he said.

Many distributors contribute significant amounts to political campaigns. But the brewers have become more organized. Steube’s office was flooded with calls recently against legislation opposed by the brewers.

Steube points to the financial investments made by small breweries in arguing they deserve support.

The craft beer industry is one of Florida’s economic success stories. Dozens of new breweries have opened around the state in recent years and there is plenty of room for growth, with Florida a relative latecomer to the nationwide trend.

Jdub’s is one of three so-called “production breweries” that opened in Sarasota and Manatee counties in recent months, the first such establishments in the region. Two more could open soon. Unlike brew pubs, these breweries keg and can their beer and try to make it widely available.

Joerger began home brewing a decade ago while living in Olympia, Wash. Even as his career as a federal law enforcement officer took off and he moved into management positions, the idea of opening a brewery nagged at him. Beer is his passion, and he wanted to do something he truly loved.

With his wife Kelly, a nurse, on board the pair finally took the leap in January of 2013, moving to Sarasota to live near Kelly’s parents and take advantage of an untapped market.

Joerger said his goal is to create a beer that becomes synonymous with the Sarasota area. He points to Cigar City Brewing in Tampa as a model. The company’s beers have gained statewide, even national, recognition.

For now, though, Jdub’s is a small family-run operation. On a recent afternoon Kelly wrote the names of beers such as Wee Heavy Scotch Ale and Hot Chocolate Stout in brightly-colored chalk on the taproom board while her father helped out in the warehouse.

Joerger — an Army veteran and former rugby player who sports tatoos and a beard and says he has been described as half hippie, half jock — alternated between talking about his business plans and playing with his nine-week-old son Max, the heir apparent to a growing enterprise. Two English bulldogs, Winston and Charlotte, lumbered around the taproom, where Joerger can often be found tending bar.

Making the leap to small business entrepreneur has not been easy.

It took more than a year to open Jdub’s Brewing Company, a period Joerger describes as one of the most difficult of his life. Everything seemed to take longer than expected, but beer is finally flowing out of eight shiny new stainless steel fermenters that sit, visible through big windows, in the warehouse space adjacent to the taproom. Revenue has started to trickle in.

Roughly 40 bars and restaurants now carry Up Top! IPA, including World of Beer and the Siesta Key Oyster Bar. Joerger hopes to start canning the beer soon and making it available in retail shops.

The politics surrounding craft breweries have been an unwelcome distraction from Joerger’s primary mission.

“First and foremost we’re making good beer,” he said. “That’s where our head is at.”

Last modified: April 8, 2014
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